Unreal Engine 4 will soon offer development tools inside VR

unreal_engine

If you've ever harboured even the mildest desire to develop video games, the above clip is likely to bring that impulse to the fore. It's a live demonstration of Unreal Engine 4's VR development toolkit, which allows designers to build games from inside the game. Epic Games' Tim Sweeney and Mike Fricker run through the functionality, which allows designers to drag and drop assets in-engine using motion sensors and laser pointers.

Even cooler, all menus and data can be accessed via an in-world tablet, which compensates for the lack of a monitor. It all looks really easy and, to be honest, more fun than actually playing games.

The toolset isn't available yet: the above video is a summary of a longer Twitch stream the studio recently hosted, showing the technology in thorough detail. As for when it will release, well, there's another Epic Games stream coming on March 16, where they'll likely make an announcement.

Cheers, Polygon.

Shaun Prescott

Shaun Prescott is the Australian editor of PC Gamer. With over ten years experience covering the games industry, his work has appeared on GamesRadar+, TechRadar, The Guardian, PLAY Magazine, the Sydney Morning Herald, and more. Specific interests include indie games, obscure Metroidvanias, speedrunning, experimental games and FPSs. He thinks Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed is an all-time classic that will receive its due critical reappraisal one day.